Outrageous Cranberry-Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

I guess I don’t keep up with Starbucks news very well, because I had no idea the Outrageous Oatmeal Cookie recipe I linked to in The Washington Post was actually put out by Starbucks in an effort to promote their new approach to baked goods – simple ingredients, more whole grain, etc. etc. etc. You can read about it on the Starbucks corporate site.

Sounds great, and I have one more request. How about making some of your cookies smaller and less expensive? We tend to drop in late in the afternoon for a treat and it would be nice if more of the cookies were snack size. Sharing a pack of the chocolate covered grahams works well (140 calories each), but it would be nice to have more variety in sizes that won’t spoil dinner.

Now back to the oatmeal cookies, they’re pretty good! I swapped out the white flour for some white whole wheat, used cranberries instead of raisins and threw in some walnuts for a little Omega 3 (and tastiness). I’m looking forward to seeing how the recipe stacks up to the one sold in shops.

Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until combined.

Add oat mixture to butter mixture and stir until partially mixed. Add 1/3 cup nuts and 1/3 cup cranberries and stir until fully blended. Scoop dough up by rounded tablespoons and shape into balls. Flatten slightly. Mix the reserved nuts and cranberries together and press a few gently into the top . Arrange 2 inches apart on cookie sheets and b on center rack for 12-15 minutes, until cookies are golden brown, but still soft. Cool on sheets for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack.

Comments

Thanks for the review, Megan! Glad you liked the cookies. I don’t remember them being salty, but I like things on the salty side so maybe they are. Or maybe it was the butter. Glad you still liked them.

The taste and consistency for these cookies were spot on! There was a bit of a salty aftertaste though, so I’m thinking I might have put in too much of the baking soda / powder or salt. My butter may have been salted as well (I couldn’t tell as I had a leftover stick that was out of the box and had no markings to identify if it was unsalted). Otherwise, very tasty!

For several years now, I have made these cookies every couple of months for our church snacks. They can’t get enough. Sometimes I add coconut to half a batch, sometimes chopped apricots, usually pecans instead of walnuts. I will often add white chocolate chips, a big favorite. A very veratile cookie!

This is one of my older recipes, so thank you so much for taking the time to give it a try AND report back. I really appreciate it. I need to put this recipe on the top of my pile, as it’s one of my favorites, but I’ve kind of neglected it over the years. Thanks again for the review.

I’m not comfortable in the kitchen, really don’t like to cook. My oven doesn’t work too well – providing an excuse. But, today I had a craving for something sweet and found this recipe. Made it as it is written – found it relatively easy. Fantastic!! Actually think I will have to make them again. Ate 4 before I could stop! Thank You So Much!!

These are really delicious cookies, soft and chewy. I used dried cranberries but no nuts because of an allergy. I only cooked them for 11 minutes, the perfect time for my oven. Will be making these again many times!! Next time I will double the recipe as this one only made 20.

Starbucks Oatmeal has always been our favorite, but don’t like the thought of all the additives we don’t want. Was looking for a substitute, this looks like it would fill the bill. Has anyone tried using all or part coconut oil and/or part molasses with this? Starbucks also listed dried apricots, which I will definately add.

I really love this recipe. I adapt it to be gluten-free and egg-free due to allergies and they turn out wonderful every time – a challenging feat for gluten-free AND egg-free baked goods! I use Trader Joe’s gluten-free all purpose flour and Engery Egg Replacer in my version.

I am not a big fan of shortening, but that’s the missing ingredient here if you want a bit softer, chewier cookie. I compared the official ingredients that Starbucks lists on their website, and they have both butter and shortening listed in the Outrageous Oatmeal cookie. My 78 year old mother swears by Crisco (instead butter) as the very important ingredient that prevents a cookie from flattening out and getting too crispy. It’s also her mainstay for pie pastry which you will find the recipe for in Betty Crocker as “Standard Pastry”. Butter in pastry just turns it into shortbread (if you also add some sugar) and is great when you do want a crispy cookie.

Just made these, gluten free/dairy free since we are a gfree family and they are amazing! I used bobs redmill all purpose gluten free flour, and earth balance dairy free “butter”…when I bake non gluten free recipies as gluten free I add a tsp of xanthum gum…super easy recipie as well as super yummy!

My son is getting ready to deploy and I his birthday is next week (6/6/12)… I text him and ask what he wanted me to bake! He said… “How about something with nuts, oatmeal and crasinberry”.. I’m pretty sure this recipe will fit that description… and I will keep you posted as to how they turn out! Peace to all… and thanks for the recipe! Nana Niki (P.S. It’s raining in Southern Ohio “finally” and the crows are in the tulip tress begging for cookies) LOL

I am trying to keep my weight down. I purchased a box of home made Oatmeal Cranberry walnut cookies from Sprouts. They were delicious. I am trying to find a healthy recipe, so I can make my own. This recipe is easy, but I am conserned about the nutritional value of the cookies. Could You e-mail the nutritional value facts.

Hi Jean! Thanks for the review. Sorry you didn’t like the recipe, but sometimes doubling can change the result. Also, this recipe doesn’t have weights for the flour and when recipes don’t have weights, people are likely to get varying degrees of thickness due to the way people measure flour.

About Cousin’s, I’ve enver heard of that recipe but will look for it. Sounds interesting. In the meantime, I’m going to email you a recipe you might like better.

Well, I’m sorry to say I was disappointed with this recipe. I baked the first dozen last night, and they spread out too much, and became a crisp cookie – not what I was looking for. So I added a bit more flour, and baked the rest this AM. Much better, but still not as good as Cousin’s. I should mention that I doubled the recipe to begin with. I’m puzzled why anyone would choose to bake such a small batch of cookies – as long as your doing it anyway, why not make a few more?

That sounds like a good one. I will try it next week-end, with raisins though, as I know I still have quite a stack at home 🙂
(I was also wondering if I could substitute raisins or cranberries for chocolate chip as well ? It might take away the chewiness and smoothness that we get when we bite into it though? Any thoughts?)

My hubby loved ’em just as you origianally posted them. He’s a sucker for anything oatmeal rasin. They’re a good hearty cookie and I’d make again, at least right after the ones I just got out of Taste of Home (Colossal!)

Anna, The cookie looks great. I love your new blog look. It’s pretty much what I want to do with mine, not too jazzy. Some of the sites with music and whatnot are dizzying. I like your subdued colors and nice clean lines/look. Did you do it yourself?